Peppermint Swirls

This peppermint-flavored twist on the traditional sugar cookie looks great with green or blue food coloring, too.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 teasoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract or flavoring

1/4 teaspoon all-natural red food coloring

additional flour, for dusting

Directions

In a medium-size bowl, whisk the flour and salt together; set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes. Add egg and continue to beat for another minute. Stir in vanilla extract and peppermint. Add flour mixture and beat just until fl our is combined.

Remove half of dough from bowl, wrap in plastic wrap or place in a small bowl with a tight-fi tting lid, and set aside. Add red food coloring to remaining dough in bowl and mix until thoroughly combined. Wrap colored dough separately; place both doughs in refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a cookie sheet with baking parchment.

Remove dough from refrigerator and unwrap. On a clean, lightly floured surface, press out white dough into a rectangle, approximately 10" by 16". Slightly flatten red dough between your palms and place on top of the white dough, then press colored dough to fit over white dough below it.

Roll the dough up along the wide side into a tube; with a sharp knife, slice the tube in half, then slice each half in half. Finally, slice each of the four sections of dough into fourths and place eight cookies on baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until edges are just barely starting to color. Remove cookies from oven; allow to cool for 10 minutes before final cooling on wire rack. Store in an air-tight container for up to four days.